Every December since 2016, British artist Chris Barker has created an annual collage in homage to the famous and beloved figures who have left us in the past year. Inspired by the famous album cover Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band of the Beatles, the work brings together iconic and lesser-known faces in a dense and detailed composition. 2025 marks the last year of this series, which over the years has paid homage to more than 1,000 characters across cinema, music, sports and pop culture.
The final edition is among the richest ever, with 245 faces included. Key players include Pope Francis, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Reiner, Gene Hackman, Brian Wilson, Hulk Hogan and Ace Frehley. Alongside the big names we find more curious or regional personalities, such as the Irish singer Clodagh Rodgers. Other notable artists and figures of the year include Brigitte Bardot, Diane Keaton, Roberta Flack, Loni Anderson, D’Angelo, and the Drag RaceThe Vivienne. Barker even added Bardot at the last minute, when most of the collage was already completed.
A project born by chance
Barker says the project began on election night in the United States. Following the vote from home, he felt the need to express the emotions of that particular year on paper. For some reason, his creation was born as a parody of the famous Beatles cover. After posting it online, the next day he noticed that it had gone viral and that the press was comparing him to Andy Warhol. That personal initiative quickly turned into a global phenomenon, with annual discussions about the choices of characters included in the collage and how they were depicted.
A commemorative book and a special exhibition
To celebrate the 10th anniversary, Barker will publish a 100+ page book, titled A Decade in the Lives, 2016–2025which collects all ten works, with detailed keys to the faces represented and comments on the figures and events that inspired them. A special exhibition is also planned in London, where the public will be able to admire this final tribute up close.
Barker explains that closing the project is a natural choice: “I didn’t want to get to the point where the protagonists were the greats of my youth, and I don’t want to be added to the collage one day!”. And so, after ten years, we will have to say goodbye to his homage which has now become a tradition to celebrate the figures who have left an indelible mark on popular culture.
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